Donn McClean paid a visit to the yard of Peter Fahey to get the latest on his team of winter horses including the popular Peregrine Run.
Ambitious Fellow
He hasn’t run yet, but he works well. He’s by Fame And Glory and his dam won over hurdles. He’ll go for a four-year-olds’ bumper in the next week or 10 days.
Belfast Banter
He usually travels really well through his races. I can’t say that he’s emptying, because he always runs his race. We might go for the Grade 3 handicap hurdle at Ascot on 19th December. That race might suit him. They usually go a good pace in that, and it should suit his style of racing.
Born Patriot
He starts off tomorrow at Punchestown in an auction maiden hurdle over two miles and five and a half furlongs. He’s a nice horse, he goes nicely at home, and he probably wants two and a half miles all right. He’s a nice staying sort. He’ll probably improve for his debut tomorrow, but he should be a nice horse down the line.
Butterflyvespiere
She’s a nice filly. We’re going to give her a run over hurdles, then give her a break and come back for a bumper. She’s just a little immature, and a run over hurdles should crown her.
Coastal World
He won his point-to-point for us at Lismore last March, and it’s more than likely he’ll go for a bumper now before heading over hurdles. Owned by Enjoy D’Allen’s owners, he seems to be a very nice horse and I’m looking forward to getting him going on the track.
Complete Fantasy
He ran well the last day at Gowran, the winner of the race looks like a good horse, and we kept on well to finish third. He’ll have one more run in a maiden, so we’ll see how he goes, before he goes into handicaps, probably in the new year. Hopefully he’ll be able to find his way in handicaps.
Enjoy D’Allen
He’s consistent, he has finished second now in his last three beginners’ chases. He jumps great. We’ll have one more try in a beginners’ chase before we go handicapping with him. There’s a race at Down Royal on St Stephen’s Day, a similar race to the races he has been running in, and he’ll probably go there before going handicapping. I think that he could be better in a handicap.
Hisnameis Mrdevitt
We’ve only got him in the last few days. He won twice for Johnny Feane on the flat during the summer, and hopefully he can go on and be a good hurdler. He has schooled well, and he’ll go for a juvenile hurdle soon.
Lunch In Adare
She ran well last time over fences at Ballinrobe, she was just edged out of it close home. She’ll go for a mares’ handicap at Fairyhouse at the weekend if she gets into the race. She jumps well, and she’ll have very little weight if she does get in, which will help her a lot.
Lucky Tenner
He ran a nice race on his racecourse debut at Thurles three weeks ago, and the winner of the race made a nice price at the sales the following week. He was a little bit keen, but he kept on nicely. He’ll have one more try in a bumper before he goes over hurdles. He jumps well so he should do okay over hurdles.
Mine Now
He’s back in, and he’ll go for a staying handicap chase over Christmas. He’s getting on now, but he retains lots of ability and those staying handicap chases suit him well.
Peregrine Run
We just couldn’t get going with him this year with the ground. He’ll be coming back from his break to us in the middle of December, and he’ll probably have a run over hurdles before aiming for the cross-country chase at Cheltenham in March. Then, all going well, we’ll head on for the Grand National.
Quaker Island
He works well, he just had a small setback when we were about to run him, so we’ll leave him off until the new year now. He’s a half-brother to Mariah Rollins, who won the Future Champions Novice Hurdle and the Durkan New Homes Novice Chase, so hopefully he can go well.
Road To Redemption
He hasn’t run yet, but he’s a well-bred horse and he’ll be ready to run soon. He’s a big horse, he has taken a little bit of time, but we like him and he’ll run in a point-to-point soon.
Royal Kahala
She’s a gorgeous mare, we’ve liked her from day one. Whatever we’ve asked her to do, she keeps doing it. We were very happy with her bumper win at Fairyhouse in early November, and then she was impressive in winning her maiden hurdle back there 10 days later. She’s come out of that race great. We’ll given her a short break now and we’ll probably bring her back for a mares’ hurdle at Fairyhouse on New Year’s Day. Then she can hopefully step up into black type races.
Sadies Trix
She battled on well to win at Fairyhouse 10 days ago, and she got 8lb for that. She’s a consistent mare, she’s small but she’s tough. She’ll get one more run probably over Christmas, and we might just give her a break after that. She wouldn’t want really heavy ground.
Sit Down Lucy
She has had two good runs in bumpers, one at Down Royal last March and the other three weeks ago at Cork. She’ll go for a ladies’ bumper at Limerick next. She jumps very well at home, and I’m looking forward to running her over hurdles, but going on her first two runs in bumpers, she should be able to win a bumper.
Soaring Monarch
He did really well for us on the flat this year, and he has schooled well over hurdles. He’s on a little bit of a break now, with the aim of coming back at Leoaprdstown at Christmas for a juvenile hurdle. He’s rated in the mid-80s on the flat, and he has the right credentials to be a good juvenile hurdler.
Soviet Pimpernel
I was very disappointed with him on his chasing debut at Tipperary last month. He just didn’t jump well enough. Maybe it was the heavy ground, that he just couldn’t jump out of the heavy ground, because he schooled brilliantly at home. So I think we can draw a line through that run. He’ll go for a beginners’ chase over Christmas, and go from there. I think he’ll make a chaser all right.
The Big Dog
He goes at Punchestown tomorrow. He hasn’t run since he finished second to Zero Ten at the 2019 Punchestown Festival, and I’m looking forward to getting him out again. He just got a small knock last year when we were schooling him over fences. He’s not fragile, he just gave himself a knock and we gave him plenty of time. He should come on a lot for the run tomorrow, but he seems to be in great form. He’s a big horse, he’s a nice horse, he has won his bumper and he has won over hurdles, and he is one to look forward to over fences.
Two Shoe Tom
She had some really good runs in bumpers and I don’t think she has found her bumper form over hurdles yet. She hasn’t really been finishing off her races over hurdles, so she had a little wind operation after her last run. She’s back now ready to run, so we’ll find a handicap for her soon.
Visionarian
He’s a very nice horse, he won his maiden hurdle well at Gowran in early October, and we were disappointed that he didn’t win again last time at Tipperary. He didn’t settle as well as we hoped he would, and he was only getting going at the end. He’s been cantering away now. He won’t run on very heavy ground, but he might run at Leopardstown over Christmas if the ground isn’t too soft. He should improve too for stepping up to two and a half miles.
